If we were sitting with David Austin, having a spot of tea, and he remarked that he could not think of any other rose with quite so strong a fragrance as ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, I should rather think we would take note. Indeed, ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is one of the best and most popular of David Austin’s […]
Giving your roses a high-quality environment and balanced nutrition can result in robust plants that produce lots of healthy foliage, an abundance of blooms, and an enhanced ability to resist attack from pests and disease. It doesn’t have to be a lot of hard work, complicated or involve a truckload of chemicals. Consider those old
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As summer approaches it’s time to get into the garden maintenance mode – deadheading, weeding and watering. keeping after pests and fertilizing. You can follow the same routine through September, barring any unusual weather. Speaking of weather, late spring can bring us conditions that may cause some strange symptoms in your plants. Freezing temperatures followed
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Drought – it’s a scary thing, especially when your only source of water comes from seasonal rains and they don’t materialize. We had record rainfall in the winters of 2017 and 2019 but his past season was relatively dry. While we have adequate water to get us through this season, it’s always a good idea
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Several years ago, I converted a small storage area outside my office into an enclosed patio. Sloat Nursery had the perfect fountain on sale and Sunnyside offered two oversized clay pots. But with northern exposure and a ten-foot fence, the lack of direct sunlight was a major concern. I chose two ‘Sally Holmes’ and have
Spring is here and time for roses to put on their spectacular annual show. To our delight, plants are bursting with a bounty of gorgeous blooms and abundant lush foliage. It’s also the season for lots of insects to make their appearance in the garden. If you see a bug you don’t recognize, don’t squish
Spring has arrived and it is my favorite time of the year. The wonderful shiny leaves in all shades of green, maroon and burgundy and rose buds galore. What is really exciting is the sticks that we planted a few months ago (new bare-root roses} are now healthy plants ready to bloom. The first bloom
You know the saying – a weed is any plant in a place you don’t want it. Are you seeing grasses, dandelions, bindweed and even wild blackberry, popping up among your roses, in your lawn, vegetable garden or other exposed spaces, even in teeny spaces between bricks on your patio? What’s a gardener to do
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I was a little before the Beatles, but that doesn’t keep me from appreciating a rose named for one of them, ‘The McCartney Rose’. Also found under the names of ‘Paul McCartney’, ‘Sweet Lady’ and ‘The MacCartney Rose’. This is a hybrid tea, in a rich medium clear pink that was hybridized by Meilland and
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Young lush rose foliage sparkles like diamonds after the refreshing rains. Growing at breakneck speed, plants are loaded with buds, and, for us rose lovers, this upcoming blooming season is March Madness, the World Series and the Superbowl all rolled into one! Don’t let aphids diminish your enjoyment – just knock them off with a
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